I Miss the Way You Undress
by JibbityJibJob
Summary: The first time Beca had watched Chloe unwind from her day was the twelfth time she'd seen her naked.


**I Miss the Way You Undress**

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One of Beca's favourite things about her relationship with Chloe didn't happen on a daily or even weekly basis. It wasn't something that could really be planned for. Not without ruining the atmosphere that this favourite thing required in order to exist. And not with the way their schedules often saw them passing like ships in the night.

Chloe had gone from the uncertain and all-hours schedule of a personal assistant to the hectic schedule of a department head without much of a break in between. Her advancement had nearly matched Beca's own transition from intern to in-demand producer and sometimes performer milestone for milestone.

As a result, they didn't often go to bed or wake up at the same time. They didn't actually get to do very much at the same time in those first few years of their L.A. experience.

Every now and then, though, Beca would get home from the studio before Chloe made it back from the office, and she'd hunker down in their bed to read a book or fiddle around on her laptop to while away the time before Chloe would return to join her.

At Barden, after the Bellas had moved into their ex-sorority house, Beca had learned that Chloe followed a specific routine as she transitioned from a whirlwind day filled with classes, work, and all things Bellas related to a tranquil night of zero obligation.

It wasn't until they'd started dating that Beca had been privy to the whole routine. Because as open and uncomfortably prone to invading personal bubbles as Chloe was in that big white house on campus, she'd always shut herself away in her bedroom to decompress and rid herself of the day's effects before coming back into the world with her hair in a messy bun atop her head and comfy pajamas on her body.

The first time Beca had watched Chloe unwind from her day had been the twelfth time she saw her naked.

Chloe had been called upon to ferry two very important clients from place to place on a Saturday morning, and Beca, who'd slept over the night before, had been told to stay and hang out until her girlfriend returned from her impromptu adventures in babysitting.

The morning had turned into afternoon, and by the time the sun had sunk behind the buildings surrounding Chloe's tiny apartment, Beca had decided that she would be spending a second consecutive night away from home.

With only a lamp on for light, Beca and her laptop had made Chloe's bed their home for two hours before the sound of a key in the front door had announced Chloe's return.

Chloe had walked into her bedroom, given Beca a tired smile in greeting, and begun peeling away any and all evidence of the day she'd had.

That was the only way Beca could describe it.

It was slow and deliberate, though there was nothing showy or sexual about it. Chloe's actions were only for herself. The way she removed her clothing was almost peaceful in its steadiness. There were no hesitations, no stopping to check her phone, no multitasking or pacing or chatter. It was just Chloe slowly making her way from work to home, from one article of clothing to the next, placing her jacket, her shirt, her pants over the back of the chair in front of her desk.

Every now and then she'd cant her head to the side to stretch her neck. Not in irritation, but like she was unkinking something to let the day's pressures and chaos flow more fluidly away from her mind and body.

It was an intimate, unguarded moment. One that Beca somehow knew not many others had been allowed to witness.

The sight of her girlfriend, a gorgeous woman in the harshest of lighting, unwrapping herself in the soft glow of a bedside lamp was mesmerizing.

It quickly cemented itself as one of Beca's favourite things.

And so now, the first time Beca had to leave her girlfriend and their apartment behind while she toured the east coast, she discovered that the thing that made her most homesick was something that she often went weeks without anyway.

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Sound of Your Heart - Shawn Hook


End file.
